


A Letter From Mother

by sirtalen



Category: Terinu
Genre: Child Abuse, Childhood Friends, Gen, Space Pirates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 05:51:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10507584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sirtalen/pseuds/sirtalen
Summary: Terinu gets a message in a bottle





	

Terinu sat on the edge of his best friend Matt’s bunk, looking up at the human boy with wide green eyes, his horns up, his tail twitching with excitement.  “Read it to me again, Matt!  Please!”  
  
Matt was eleven, two years older than Terinu, and already a head taller than his best friend.  He ran his hand through his blond hair and said, smiling, “I’ve read it twice now, Teri.”  
  
“Just one more time, _please?_ ”  
  
“Okay, just one more.  Then we’d better put away somewhere safe and get some sleep.”  
  
“Okay!”  
  
Matt unfolded the heavy, cream colored paper, so unlike the cheap plastic flimsies or datapads that most of the _Celestial Marauder’s_ documents appeared on.  He had gotten it by sheer chance, picking up a container of cornfruit for Cookie from the station’s Vulpine fresh produce dealer.  The old male had slipped it to him after Matt had admitted to knowing Teri, warning him not to let it be seen.  It had been in an envelope, closed with a stamped wax seal, with routing markers on it that indicated it had been chasing the _Marauder’s_ path for nearly eight months.  
  
“ _My Beloved, Terinu,_ ” he began, as Terinu hung onto his every word, as filled with wonder as the first time Matt had read the words in their careful, handwritten script to him.  
  
_This is my fifth letter to you.  I don’t know if you’ve received any of the others, or if you have, whether you’ve found someone you trust to read them to you.  I know an electronic message would be faster, but that would surely be found by your ship’s communication personnel, so this is the only way I have to speak to you.  Like a message in a bottle, I’ve cast it out into the ocean of space, and can only pray that it reaches you._  
  
I hope you are happy, Terinu.  I hope you have friends.  I hope you know someone you can trust.  I don’t think there are other children onboard your ship, or at least I pray there are not, but I hope you have found an adult there who is at least kind to you.  
  
Ninetta wants me to tell you she says hello and that she misses you.  So does Auntie Alexa, who also worries about whether you’re getting enough to eat.  Madame Cher says nothing at all about you, as is her way, but I think she misses you as well.  When you left the Cabaret it was as if there was a vast hole you had filled, that is now empty and echoing.  
  
I miss you too, Terinu.  I miss you in ways that I do not have the words to express.  I pray every night to the Holy Den Mother that you remain safe, that you are happy.  I pray to her that somehow, someday you will be returned to me, and that we can be together again.”  
  
Terinu craned his neck to look at the letter.  “Why is that page so blotchy?”  
  
“Um, I think she spilled something on it, Teri,” Matt said, then quickly began reading again.  
  
“ _Please so not forget me, Terinu.  Whenever the world fills you with you with fear, or tries to twist you into something you do not wish to be, remember me, Terinu.  Remember the love I will always feel for you.  Remember that even in the Cold and Dark, that the Holy Den Mother’s fire is always visible, no matter how lost you may feel.  You are my heart, my only son, I will only be whole when we are together once again.  Stay safe.  Stay alive._  
  
Your mother,  
Melika Softpaw.”  
  
There was a long moment of silence, before a voice spoke from the doorway, “It’s late.  Shouldn’t little boys be in bed by now?”  
  
Matt shot to his feet, joined a moment later by Terinu, as Lady Mavra loomed in the doorway.  Her voice was soft, her face was smiling and that was more frightening to  Matt than any threat Brutal Brooks had ever yelled at him.  
  
“What’s that you were reading, Mr. Townsend?” she asked.  
  
“Um, nothing, Milady,” Matt said, trying to hide the letter behind his back.  
  
“Give it here.”  She held out her hand.  He gave the heavy cream parchment to her, as Terinu’s eyes grew wide and he bit down hard on his lip.  Lady Mavra read through it quickly, shaking her head but still smiling.  “Shame on you, Miss Softpaw.  I’ll have to talk to Madame Cher, the next time the _Marauder_ passes through that system.”  
  
“It’s just a letter, Lady Mavra,” Terinu spoke up, his voice pitching up into something desperate and ready to break.  “It’s not… it’s not important.”  
  
She folded the letter once again and handed it to him.  “No, it isn’t.  So why don’t you just tear it up, Mouse?”  
  
His tail and spurs flattened and his eyes grew pleading.  “Do I… do I have to, Milady?”  
  
Her voice grew cold and hard.  “Yes, Mouse.  You have to.”  
  
Matt watched as Terinu, his body shaking, his arms moving mechanically, grasped the two short ends of the folded letter and tore it in half.  
  
“Now put that garbage in the waste disposal.”  
  
Terinu swallowed and did as he was told.  The torn pieces disappeared as the lid was closed, gone forever into the waste disintegration system.  
  
“Good little mouse,” Lady Mavra purred.  “Now go back to your quarters and sleep.  You’ve got a long watch tomorrow.”  
  
“Yes, milady.”  Terinu bowed to her and scurried out, turning only once to give a despairing look to Matt before disappearing down the corridor.  
  
“As for you, Mr. Townsend, why didn’t bring that letter straight to me, or Captain Aynish, when you found it?” Lady Mavra asked softly, her eyes locking onto his.  
  
Matt swallowed hard.  “It was Terinu’s, milady.”  
  
Her hand flashed out so quickly that he barely saw it, before her palm connected with his face, sending him sprawling to the floor.  “Terinu is _mine_ , Mr. Townsend,” she said, not even raising her voice as he pushed himself up off the floor and to his knees, his head ringing.  “Anything that belongs to him, belongs to _me._   If you receive any more mysterious letters, you are to bring them to me, boy.  You wouldn’t want to get your friend in trouble over them, would you?”  
  
Matt stared at the floor.  “No, milady.”  
  
“Good boy.  You’ll make your mother proud.”  
  
The End


End file.
